"I tell them to ditch their workout and just have a party," says Wiki. A big, sweaty, heart-pumping party.
In 60 minutes Wiki, an animated and seriously buff native of New Zealand, will lead a crowd of more than 50 as hips of all shapes and sizes salsa, cha-cha and cumbia their way through a low-impact workout that has become the latest dance fitness craze.
Zumba, a multicultural aerobics workout with roots in Colombia by way of Miami, has arrived in Fairfield County.
In fitness studios from Greenwich to Southport, devotees speak of its cardiovascular virtues with a enthusiasm often extolled by fitness infomercial spokesmodels. Except these are real people with real bodies, who say the Zumba experience is giving them real results.
"People rush to get here, me included," says Karen Ford, a ceramic artist from Westport, who says Zumba has re-energized her after years of Bikram yoga and weight-lifting. She still enjoys those things but says, "This is the one class I hate to miss and almost never do."
"Zumba" is derived from a Colombian slang word that means to "move fast and have fun," explains Wiki.
The workout was created in the mid-1990s by celebrity fitness trainer
A fitness studio can only offer Zumba if it is presented by a certified instructor, explains Tanya Portzebowski who introduced the program to enthusiastic response at the Greenwich YWCA earlier this year.
"One of my goals was simply to shake things up here," says Portzebowski. "I believe to get the most out of fitness, it's good to try new things from time to time."
In the case of Zumba, the response has mostly been contagious. (Although one Stamford fitness club owner says her members rejected Zumba, complaining the pulsating Latin soundtrack was too loud.) Anything less than an eager response baffles enthusiasts, who say the workout has something for everyone. Wiki sometimes brings her three children and husband to her Sunday morning class.
"How could you not love it? It's a good workout. If you move it, you can burn 500 to 800 calories a class," says Ruth Pereira of Port Chester, N.Y., who teaches at the Greenwich YWCA. "But what I love most about it is the thing it does for people's spirits. My students learn they can really move it, even if you are not a great dancer or in great shape." She describes one student who began her class, "so intimidated she was barely stepping." Now the woman is among her most accomplished students. "She had no idea she could move those hips."
At Pereira's Monday night classes, the Greenwich students range from Kristen Plumb, 29, to Susie Baker, four decades Plumb's senior. The ladies rotate their bodies at various speeds as Pereira shouts "hips" more than 100 times to keep their focus on that body part.
"It's half dancing, half fooling around," says Baker, who is also into yoga.
Says Plumb: "What I like is it's way more interesting than spending an hour on the elliptical trainer. That just gets so dull. And I'm married now, I don't go to clubs like I used to, so this is my way of going out dancing."
The words dance and exercise in the same sentence can scare even the bravest fitness wannabe, but students and instructors alike say you do not have to be particularly coordinated, fit or a good dancer to benefit.
A typical class involves some simple choreography - such as thrusting the hips from side to side - along with some coordinating arm movements punctuated by a spicy flare. Zumba engages the all-important core abdominal muscles, tones the arms and works the legs and hips.
The class has a sexy vibe - a few students brave bare abdomen and skimpy tanks, but that is the extent of the burlesque qualities.
"Have you looked around this room? You see every shape and size and ability level. I love that it has that organic quality. Nobody cares, nobody judges, because everyone is having too much fun," say Ford.
A few months ago, Glynaise Benson of Westport tried Wiki's class at the recommendation of a friend, terribly nervous about the dancing aspect. "Next thing you know I am just standing there shaking it. I used to do kick boxing, but no more. I'm a Zumba girl. I've lost 10 pounds since I started and it's all I want to do. I could come every day."
At The Fitness Edge she joins a crowd. Wiki, who is soon departing for a two-month summer vacation, has had as many as 80 people in her classes and teaches as many as 400 Zumba devotees a week. The class is taught in a huge studio and she uses a microphone headset to explain the choreography. "Twenty years I've been working out," she says. "And never, ever, have I had this much fun."
Besides the classes mentioned above, we also found listings for Zumba classes at Sportsplex in Stamford, the New York Sports Clubs in Stamford, the Norwalk YMCA, the Westport/Wilton YMCA, Chi Fitness in Westport and the Southport Racquet Club. Visit the official Zumba Web site, www.zumbafitness.com, to find a class or ask your club about offerings.
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